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Flick Bait
YouTube channels in 2017]] Flick Bait was a weekly comedy web series released on the Screen Junkies YouTube channels in 2017. It was a panel show featuring four hosts who humorously broke down that week's news stories and performed comedy segments. Viewers voted on the winning segment each week. Flick Bait episodes were typically 30 - 45 minutes long. 21 episodes were published, all in 2017. The show was hosted by Dan Murrell, Spencer Gilbert, Joe Starr and Andy Signore. Flick Bait was streamed live every Friday at 4pm PST via YouTube. It was initially published on Screen Junkies News, but later moved to Screen Junkies main. Flick Bait was ostensibly created to satirize click bait culture, though it's debatable whether it ever actually achieved this aim. It had an informal, often farcical vibe. Part of the show's appeal was the frequent clumsiness of the hastily-thrown-together comedy bits. None of the hosts knew anything about each other's comedy bits until they were performed live during the show. The hosts frequently ridiculed one another for their ineptitude. Flick Bait was easily the most divisive show in the history of Screen Junkies, for both viewers and hosts alike. Format * Trigger Warning/Cold open - Episodes of Flick Bait typically started with a short bit which aimed to present a ludicrous news story as fact, before immediately declaring it false. In later episodes, this bit was preceded by a facetious "trigger warning" that informed viewers the hosts were tired and/or drunk, and instructed viewers not to take the show seriously. * Introduction - the main host (usually Andy Signore) explained the premise and structure of the show. The other hosts usually took this opportunity to comment on the show's incredibly muddled intentions. * That week's news stories/Group game inspired by a news story - early episodes feature casual discussions of some especially ludicrous entertainment news stories from that week. The hosts riffed on, and humorously critiqued the news stories. Later episodes dropped the news round-up and instead featured a group game inspired by a prominent news story. performs his comedy bit, as the heavily-cocained studio exec, 'Hollywood']] * Each host performs a comedy segment - There were four segments per episode. Segments varied wildly. Some were trivia/parlor games, others were judged competitions, some were live comedy sketches, some were performance art pieces, some involved costumes and/or props, others were pre-recorded videos. Whatever the segment, the other hosts generally mocked it relentlessly, especially if it failed miserably. In early episodes, the hosts had buzzers that they would use to "gong out" their colleagues in case of a poor performance, but in later episodes the buzzers were eliminated. The main host also occasionally checked the live chat and read out viewer comments. * Voting - in early episodes, a Twitter poll was put up live at the end of the show and a winner was declared in the show itself. In later episodes, the Twitter poll (or YouTube icard poll) was left up for a week and the winner was announced in the next episode. The weekly Flick Bait champion was awarded the Flick Bait belt: an over-sized novelty belt meant to resemble a wrestling belt. * Trailer was a regular part of Flick Bait]]Honest Trailers Trailer - each episode ended with a short snippet of next week's Honest Trailer and a short discussion about it. Evolution of Flick Bait Across its short 21 episode run, Flick Bait evolved dramatically. Early episodes included deliberately misleading titles to parody how news outlets twist facts into sensationalist headlines, for example "Guardians of the Galaxy no longer part of the MCU!". However, many viewers thought the titles were legitimate, and thus expressed outrage that the show was manipulative and disingenuous. The titles of Flick Bait episodes were occasionally modified heavily after being posted, seemingly in an effort to stem the tide of angry viewers who were legitimately click-baited by the video. Early episodes also devoted a substantial amount of time to discussing that week's news stories before each host did their comedy bit. As the show evolved, the titles changed. Later episodes had click-bait-style headlines, but did not deliberately mislead viewers, for example, "50 Actors Who Shouldn't Play The Joker." ''In addition, later episodes gradually reduced the amount of time devoted to discussing news stories, until eventually that aspect of the show was removed entirely. Instead, later episodes of the shows began with a group game inspired by a news story, before proceeding into each hosts' comedy segments. Around this same time, the show 'Screen Junkies Universe (SJU)' moved to YouTube, became a daily show, and increasingly took on aspects of ''Flick Bait's casual, fun approach to entertainment news. In August 2017, Joe Starr discussed the evolution of Flick Bait in a podcast interview with Billy Business. In the interview, Joe explained that no one at Screen Junkies fully realized Flick Bait was essentially a sketch comedy show at the beginning. Joe said the hosts were figuring out what approach and mentality the show required as they went along. In the same interview, Joe also said he thought Screen Junkies needed to better educate the audience on what the show actually was: "I can see why it’d be jarring for the audience to be, like, we’ve gone from Movie Fights to, like, the performance art thing like I did with Danielle." In the podcast, Joe also spoke about how the failure of his first jelly bean sketch set a weird tone for the rest of the series: That very first show I was like, "Oh I have this very simple, structured game that I, indeed, just played last week with my family, and, oh it was a hoot!" And then, it, like, just derailed immediately .... I think for me, as a comedian, that set a tone for me on that show that I wasn’t really thrilled with, where it’s like, “Joe’s the funny fuck up!” No, I’m not. I’m pretty fucking good at this. That’s why I’ve got a job. So then the narrative for me was, “Oh, what bullshit’s Joe gonna try to do?” and, like, nothing was really able to, like, get rid of that. This is an interesting sort of industry for comedy. ... The simplest sentence or, like, fail in a video can, like, write your narrative for, like, a wide, wide swathe of people. ... If we gong out one of the other guys that creates the narrative that they fucking suck. And with an internet crowd it sticks. And then all of a sudden, that becomes a part of your brand and your identity even outside of this. Which I sort of started to get, like, weird and alarmed by. ''(Business Casual: Joe Starr Interview, August 11, 2017, Podcast) Though ''Flick Bait was ostensibly created to satirize click bait culture, it's debatable whether it ever actually achieved this aim or merely propagated click bait culture. The show's muddled objective is best summarized by the show itself in the meta Honest Trailer for Flick Bait: "Watch Spencer, Dan, Andy and Joe as they kinda cover the news, but also make fun of it, but also legitimately click bait you, but do it ironically? How does this show work again? Eh, whatever." Popularity Flick Bait was easily the most divisive show in the history of Screen Junkies. The core Screen Junkies fanbase loved the show, and many fans have been begging for its return ever since it ceased production. In particular, fans adored the show's informal atmosphere, which often involved the hosts drinking beer while taping the show. In contrast, general viewers detested the show. Compared to Screen Junkies' other shows, Flick Bait was poorly-viewed. In addition, every episode of Flick Bait was down-voted relentlessly on YouTube, and Screen Junkies lost thousands of subscribers every time a new episode was uploaded. For the hosts, Flick Bait was also a mixed experience: the hosts appreciate the many aspects of the show that worked, but found the overall experience draining. The hosts of Flick Bait were also the writers of Honest Trailers; Flick Bait demanded many hours of additional work on top of their already packed work load. In cases where the hosts simply didn't have enough time to create a segment, they were forced to ask co-workers to assist, which impacted their colleagues' work. Cancellation An episode of Flick Bait was due to be streamed on Friday October 6, 2017, the day the allegations of sexual misconduct perpetrated by Screen Junkies boss Andy Signore surfaced on Twitter. The episode was never taped and the show ceased production entirely. Moreover, all episodes of Flick Bait were deleted from YouTube within two days of Signore's termination, seemingly because some of them contained comedy bits that appeared dubious in light of the allegations made against Signore. In 2018, Joe Starr and Dan Murrell commented on why Screen Junkies stopped making the show: The main reason Flickbait ended is that it had started to take too much of our work week, and didn’t hit the view count to justify it. Spencer, Dan, and I were often putting HT levels of time in, and our producers and other writers were getting roped in constantly to help folks that couldn’t pull off material weekly make their segments. Not enough juice for the squeeze. (J. Starr, Reddit) Just to piggyback on Joe’s statement - another reason we chose to stop doing the show (in addition to the crazy workload) was that, while Flickbait was popular amongst our core fans, the general audience often didn’t get what we were doing and hated the show. We actually lost subscribers every single time we did the show. '' (D. Murrell, 'Reddit) Screen Junkies have no plans to bring the show back, however, the Flick Bait character "Scoops McGee" did reappear in the 'Movie Fights Live Extravaganza '''in May 2018. In addition, the hosts occasionally refer to Scoops on 'Screen Junkies Universe (SJU),' '''and have raised the possibility of ''Flick-Bait-style comedy segments being incorporated in SJU in the future. List of Flick Bait episodes Ep 1: Guardians CHRIS PRATT Leaks SNOKE’S IDENTITY Star Wars - The Last Jedi?!? Streamed: May 12, 2017. Segments: * Nerdy ASMR – Iron Man takes a shower * Meatball Wall: Buca di Screen Junkies – Dividied By Fate, Part 1: A Case for Justice. Spencer rallies the other hosts to eat a large meatball at Buca di Beppo Italian Restaurant in order to bump off puppeteer Terry Fator from the restaurant's celebrity wall of fame * Rumor Has It – a game where the hosts have to guess whether various false news stories were legitimately reported on the internet * IMDb User Review Word Vomit – hosts must read angry IMDb user reviews while eating vomit-flavored jelly beans Ep 2: ALICIA SILVERSTONE IS JOSS WHEDON'S BATGIRL?! Streamed: May 19, 2017 Segments: * Movie vs Movie: YouTube edition. Featuring special guest John Flickinger. The hosts vote on which YouTube clip to watch in full, in the categories of bad acting, general weirdness, and porn. * Outrage – the hosts are randomly assigned nerd rage topics and compete with one another to see who can get the angriest. Judged by Sasha Perl-Raver, Jay Washington and Matt Key * Scoops McGee – Ben Affleck Bags Bat Brother?! Poe Dameron Courts Avatar’s Cameron?! Fat Falls Flat After Bat Spat?! * Die Hard With A Vengeance’s 22nd Anniversary – an overly elaborate bit where Andy is manipulated by an evil German gamemaster into wearing a sandwich board reading “I HATE COMICS” outside a comics shop. Ep 3: GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY NO LONGER PART OF THE MCU?! Streamed: May 26, 2017 Segments: * One Word Game * Uber Driver Trivia – Andy asked an Uber driver a series of movie trivia questions. The other hosts vote on whether the Uber driver will get the questions wrong or right * Rise of Evil Sheldon * Joe’s Script Table Read Ep 4: HAWKEYE IS GETTING HIS OWN SOLO MOVIE?! Streamed: June 2, 2017 Segments: * Theme Song Remix – featuring Flula Borg * Honest Scene – the Catwoman basketball scene created by Spencer Gilbert and Lon Harris without the benefit of fancy camera work or editing. * ASMark Wahlberg – Dan Murrell does ASMR while impersonating Mark Wahlberg * 5 Minute Dungeons and Dragons – the hosts put on fantasy character costumes and play D&D. Spencer’s character has sex with several helicopters. Unfortunately, the dice roll means the helicopters are “only sorta into it.” Ep 5: MARVEL AND DC TEAM UP FOR SUPERMAN?! Streamed: June 9, 2017 Segments: * Honest Chrome Extension – which changes various nerd terms into their “honest” equivalent * Scoops McG - Performed by Andy Signore * Posterize It * Performance Review - Featuring special guest Danielle Radford. Ep 6: AVENGERS TO TEAM UP WITH AQUAMAN?! (Also known as "Aquaman + Avengers") Streamed: June 16, 2017 Segments: * Collateral Beauty Game – a trivia game based on the notoriously bad film Collateral Beauty * Naturally, I’m Angry * 40 Christmas Pitches – the hosts take turns pitching Christmas movies before time runs out. * Andy Sweepfloor – Andy was absent and a broom was propped up in his place. The broom did absolutely nothing. Ep 7: MAN OF STEEL DECLARED BEST FILM OF ALL TIME?! Streamed: June 23, 2017 Segments: * British Spencer * Andy in Middle-Earth – video of a set visit to the New Zealand set of The Hobbit * Roast-Bot * Our Savior Scoops McGee Ep 8: FANT4STIC 2 IS HAPPENING AFTER ALL?! Streamed: June 30, 2017 Segments: * 365 The Notebook Letters – the hosts read out a series of increasingly deranged letters, purportedly written by Ryan Gosling’s character in The Notebook * Is Bane The Father? Jay Washington reads a series of subpoenas demanding that he submit himself for paternity testing * Are They American? – a game where the hosts have to guess whether various celebrities are American citizens or not * “Ditty” Movie Quotes - using an app, Andy turns famous movie quotes into musical ditties. The other host must guess which movie they're from Ep 9: ANDY SERKIS SLIPS AND REVEALS SNOKE'S IDENTITY?! Streamed: July 7, 2017 Segments: * The Big Sick * Flicktionary * Spider-Man, Minions, Cars – guessing which franchise has a promotional campaign with various products * Choose Your Own Adventure – a computer game about a Screen Junkies employee coming to work on Friday and preparing a last-minute Flick Bait segment Ep 10: IS FANTASTIC FOUR JOINING INFINITY WAR? Streamed: July 14, 2017. First episode on Screen Junkies main channel. Segments: * Honest Trailer Flick Bait * ASMR Spider-Man * Kermit the Frog Audition * Constructive Criticism Ep 11: Jared Leto's Joker Kills Harley Quinn?!? Streamed: July 21, 2017. Taped at San Diego Comic Con. Segments: * Cosplay competition – the hosts must guess what Comic Con attendees are dressed as * Sully 2: Air Blood * Script Reading – the hosts and a fan read a script out loud. The dialogue makes frequent mention of how small the character’s penis is. * Scoops McGee Ep 12: YONDU TEAMING UP WITH SPIDER-MAN IN INFINITY WAR?! Streamed: July 28, 2017 Segments: * Actually Mad Libs – playing "mad libs" with negative comments viewers posted on the first episode of Flick Bait. * All the Nerd References in Ready Player One – ironically claiming the hosts are all fake nerds for not spotting a series of fabricated nerd references * Dancin’ To The Andys – a fake infomercial for an exercise tape featuring secret footage of drunk Andy dancing on stage, taped at Comic Con. * New Zealand Bargain Bin – hosts choose between two bad movies Ep 13: UPCOMING WONDER WOMAN PROJECT CANCELED?! Streamed: August 4, 2017 Segments: * Tony Revolori’s Two Truths and a Lie – wacky stories from the filming of Spider-Man: Homecoming, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Table 19 and Dope. * 1997 Usenet Discussion Board Posts – the hosts read angry nerd comments from 20 years ago regarding the wild possibility that the upcoming Star Wars prequels might be bad, Hugh Grant should be the next Spider-Man, why are all Marvel superhero films so bad? and an impassioned defence of Batman & Robin. * RIP Dark Tower News – a montage of 10 years of contradictory The Dark Tower casting and production news and speculation, set to sombre music. * Who’s that Wrestler Maybe? The hosts enthusiastically make up names for real wrestlers, despite being entirely ignorant of the sport. Ep 14: Is LADY STONEHEART Confirmed For GAME OF THRONES?! Streamed: August 11, 2017 Segments: * Famous Forehead. Featuring Sasha Perl-Raver. The hosts stick post-its notes with the names of fictional characters on their forehead and ask questions about their identity * Movie Match Game – Based on the 1970’s TV game show. Dan reads a sentence with one of the words blanked out. Joe fills in the blank. Spencer and Sash try to match his answer. * Visit to the Hitman’s Bodyguard promotional training day. Joe plays laser tag, drives a go kart, learns floristry, and despondently eats a fruit cup. * Making a movie in 3 minutes – the team go through all the stages of modern movie development against a ticking clock. They find an unused IP (Sharpies), secure Chinese financing, throw money at Will Smith until he agrees to star, pour cocaine into Brett Ratner’s nose until he agrees to direct, randomly recut the film after lacklustre test screenings, secure a marketing deal with Weeties, and violently smash Rotten Tomatoes to protest poor reviews. Ep 15: Flashpoint-ing Ben Affleck's Career Streamed: August 18, 2017 Segments: * My Little Pony Challenge – Jenny Nicholson quizzes the others about their My Little Pony Knowledge, to determine whether they are fake fans or real Bro-nies. * Who’s the Bad Guy Here? The hosts must identify the “bad guy” in still photos from movies. The gag is the obviously evil person is always the “incorrect” answer * Katana in Europe – Andy approaches random people in Europe, asking them to identify a Katana action figure * Fact or Fiction Ep 16: 50 Actors Who Shouldn't Play The Joker Streamed: August 25, 2017 Segments: * Hollywood - Dan Murrell performs as a creatively bankrupt, heavily-cocained studio executive * Scoops McD – Performed by Spencer Gilbert * Insane Movie Fights * Real/Fake Christian Films – a game involving some real and some invented Christian movies Ep 17: Worst Possible Star Wars Toys & Force Friday Unboxing! Streamed: September 1, 2017 Segments: * Worst Force Friday * Honest Scene – Daredevil. Spencer Gilbert and Lon Harris recreate the playground fight scene without the benefit of fancy camera work or editing. * Trump Movie Cast * Tracy Tuesdays - fictitious annual event in which Dick Tracy fans meet for "Tracy Tuesdays" Ep 18: Top Ten Best Batman Porgs! (Plus a Suicide Squad 2 Fantasy Draft) Streamed: September 8, 2017 Segments: * SEO CEO – Dan Murrell performs as the SEO CEO, an algorithm-obsessed executive who wants more views * What’s Eating Gilbert’s Grapes? – Spencer states news topics and the others vote on whether he is frustrated by them or not. The hosts signify that they think Spencer is frustrated by a topic by stuffing grapes into their mouths * Vegan Hunger Games – the hosts vote on which celebrity vegan would win in a fight, until only one victor remains. * Star Clowns Ep IX Ep 19: Worst Possible Game of Thrones Endings! Streamed: September 15, 2017 Segments: * Trump Fights * Who’s That Shill? * Behind The Scenes at the Emmys Party – a video of Andy, Joe, Spencer and Dan at the Emmy Awards. They wave, dance, and visit the men’s room. * Hollywood – Dan Murrell performs as a creatively bankrupt, heavily-cocained studio executive Ep 20: Predicting What's In The AVATAR SEQUELS (Also known as "Ultimate Avatar Sequel Wish List") Streamed: September 22, 2017 Segments: * Batman’s Soapbox – Andy rants while dressed as Batman. This is the only time Andy actually won the popular vote. * Doctor Huh? Spencer watched an episode of Doctor Who at random and attempts to summarize and review the entire series * Cards Against Aronofksy * Scoops Dundee – Joe Starr performs as an Australian gossip columnist. The gag is Joe only knows extremely stereotypical things about Australia. Ep 21: The 'DCEU™' Is (Literally) a Joke Streamed: September 29, 2017 Segments: * Young Sheldon Recap, using graphic clips from horror movies to illustrate key characters and events in the show. * The Cameron Test – facetiously judging the sex appeal of James Cameron characters in the crudest way possible ("Do you have a boner?") in order to ironically point out Cameron doesn’t adhere to his own rules about what makes a strong female character. * Andy rants about Die Hard 6. Co-hosts must pitch a better version of the movie. * Top 5 Best Worst Moments of Star Trek: The Next Generation. See also * Movie Fights * The Screen Junkies Show * Screen Junkies Roasts * Interns of F.I.E.L.D. * Screen Junkies News * Honest Trailers External links * Flick Bait has a Fandom Wiki - It's not particularly good and hasn't been edited since September 2017, but there's always hope someone will discover it and breathe new life into it. 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